Chapter 4

I struggled and fought back, but they still bound my hands and feet and dragged me back inside by force.

Then I was thrown onto the old widow's kang like a ragged sack.

Firecrackers went off outside.

Everywhere there were shouts of congratulations and drinking games.

But I couldn't feel happy at all.

I didn't want a wife. I wanted to study.

I didn't want to be trapped in these endless mountains for the rest of my life.

I wanted to go out and see the world.

But the ropes were too tight, and no matter how I tried, I couldn't break free.

Just as I was panting from exhaustion, the door was kicked open from the outside.

The old widow, drunk out of her mind, came up to me with a leering grin, stroking my face with her greasy hand.

"Heh heh, husband, after tonight I'm yours."

"When the time comes, I'll bear you a son or a daughter, and with the five children left to me by my three late husbands, we'll live as one happy family!"

The old widow bent down to kiss me.

The stench of her made me want to gag.

I turned my face away in disgust, and I didn't expect it to enrage her.

She slapped me across the face, straddled me, tore my wedding clothes to shreds, and got ready to force herself on me.

Poor me, a grown man, bound hand and foot—not only could I not move, I was like a fish on a chopping board, entirely at her mercy.

The slightest resistance earned me a rain of punches and kicks.

I even thought, maybe I should just accept my fate.

This was the worthless life I was born to.

As a child my father showed me no tenderness and my mother no love. Somehow, through my own hard work, I'd gotten into university and finally had a way out of this wretched hole.

But the next morning, my father told me, his face blank.

The family was too poor to afford a bride for me, so he'd used half a side of pork as the betrothal gift to have me marry the old widow next door.

The money saved would go toward carrying on the family line, raising the children the widow and I would have.

The past was like a pair of invisible hands, clamping down hard on my heart.

It hurt so much I couldn't breathe.

But I refused to be trapped in this life.

I would run. I would leave this place and never come back!

From somewhere I found the strength—I suddenly drove my knee up into the old widow's belly.

While she clutched her stomach and howled, I stumbled and ran for the door.

I wanted out so badly, even when the old widow behind me hurled something and struck me hard in the back.

Blood streamed down my back in sheets, and the people in the yard stared in horror, but I felt none of it.

There was only one thought in my mind: get out of here.

Never come back.

At last I made it outside, and at the edge of the village I ran into Katherine, the simple girl, playing in the mud.

When she saw me, her face broke into an instinctive smile.

"Earl, you're back?"

Then her eyes landed on my back, and a heavy worry welled up in them again.

"Earl, you're bleeding so much. Let me take you to Aunt Freda so she can kiss it better."

I was too tired, so I let her lead me home by the hand.

But when I pushed open the courtyard gate and saw the memorial tablet standing in the main room, I froze where I stood.

My name was written on it, clear as day.